This post is another preview of my forthcoming two-volume, 1,800+ page, tenth book, titled, An Early Industry of Household Wares: The Red Earthenware of Salem Village, Danvers, Peabody, Beverly and Salem, Massachusetts: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2026/01/update-on-new-book-book-sent-to.html.
While conducting research for my new book, I came across the probate records and will of Amos Osborn, a third-generation master potter in South Danvers (Peabody). Here is the information about this document that will be included in the book.
"...Amos Osborn (1773–1836) was a third-generation potter in the prolific Quaker Osborn family of potters, which dominated the red earthenware industry in South Danvers, (now modern-day Peabody), Massachusetts. The family’s potting tradition was established by his grandfather, Joseph Osborn (1702-1780), in the 1730s and continued by his father, Joseph Osborn Junior (1726-1804), before Amos took over the business. Operating out of a prominent establishment at 106 Central Street, Amos was part of a thriving industrial red earthenware community, where at the height of his business, the Beverly, Danvers and Salem, Massachusetts area was home to dozens of kilns, making it one of the largest production centers of red earthenware in the United States.
Amos was also a central figure in the local Quaker community, and his probate records reflect a man of status who was deeply concerned with the "harmony and friendship" of his Quaker family and friends. After his death in 1836, his shop remained under the control of his family until it was sold to Joseph Reed (1809-1884) in the 1850s, eventually becoming the well-known Moses B. Paige (ca. 1847/48-1941) Pottery in the 1870s.
This last will and testament reads, "I Amos Osborn, of Danvers in the county of Essex and commonwealth of Massachusetts, potter, by the mercy of God, being of sound and disposing mind and memory, but of feeble health, and admonished by repeated complaints of the uncertainty of life and the continuance thereof, and feeling a desire so to arrange my worldly concerns, as best to promote the happiness, comfort, harmony and friendship of those, who look to me, as their friend and protector, do make and publish this my last will and testament; hereby revoking all former wills by me at any time made..."
Nonetheless, the full probate file will be published in my forthcoming book; this section will include a detailed inventory of Amos Osborn's pottery shop and estate.
Note: For more information about later production at the location of Amos Osborn's shop - see my second published book, titled, The Moses B. Paige Company: The Last of the Peabody Potteries: https://historicbeverly.net/product/the-moses-b-paige-company-the-last-of-the-peabody-potteries/.
Please Stay Tuned....Much More to Come...
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